Wilton's Marut verbally commits to play baseball at UConn

WILTON -- Kurt Marut spent the entire summer playing baseball, traveling up and down the east coast with a summer program that showcased his abilities as a right-handed pitcher.

While the summer sojourn opened the eyes of many coaches and scouts when it came to Marut's impressive right arm, it also zeroed in his own eyes on one certain school.

Last week, Marut, a Wilton High School senior, verbally committed to play baseball at the University of Connecticut starting in the fall of 2010.

"I just felt really comfortable with the whole coaching staff and with the baseball program and how they ran it," said Marut. "I'm so excited to get into a great program like that."

Marut said he will receive a partial athletic scholarship to pitch for the Huskies, who went 36-24 last season before falling to Louisville in the Big East title game.

A first-team All-FCIAC selection, Marut went 6-5 overall for the Warriors last spring, but posted an impressive 1.37 ERA with 72 strikeouts and nine walks. He also hit .328 with 5 doubles, 5 triples, 2 home runs and 10 RBIs.

Head coach Jim Penders cannot comment on Marut, or any of his recruits, until the school receives an official NCAA Letter of Intent. Marut cannot sign that form until mid-November, however.

Wilton pitching coach Mark Ketley said the Huskies are getting a good pitcher who knows the value of hard work to improve his standing on the hill.

"You know, this couldn't happen to a better kid," Ketley said. "I'm so excited that he had the chance to make this choice. They've got a good history at UConn and I think he'll do fine there."

The Huskies coaching staff told Marut he would probably start his career coming out of the bullpen as a freshman while getting occasional mid-week starts.

"They just said we'll see how it goes," he said.

Ketley, who also played in college, said Marut still needs to get stronger, giving his fastball a little more pop while getting a better command of his breaking pitches.

"One thing he found this summer is you can't just survive with a fastball like you can in the FCIAC," Ketley said. "You have to have command of your off-speed pitches so you can throw it on any count."

Marut throws both a two-seam and four-seam fastball in the mid-to-high 80s and also has a curve ball, a slider and a change up.

"He just needs to keep working out, keep getting stronger, and get some more confidence," Ketley said. "He's already got good movement on his two-seamer and if he gets stronger between now and March I'm sure he'll be touching 90 (miles per hour)."

Marut, the son of Andy and Beth Marut, said he still plans on playing basketball for the Warriors this winter before kicking off his final baseball season in the spring.

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